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Pam Hunter is a published author and a Medical Terminology Specialist, as well as a Written English Professional. Pam has 20 years experience creating websites and writing content for her own 30 websites. Pam is the founder and owner of Pam Hunter Enterprises which includes this website, Iviehost.com and PHEhost.com
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Goat Raising Mini Course
This lesson is about goat nutrition and feeding.
Find out more about Raising Goats here: http://0355cgv35cxbvmb80wv30grt45.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=LIVESTOCKGOATS
The type of feeding program and the nutritional needs of goats vary from one type of goat breed to another. There are recommended nutritional guidelines and feeding program for each type of goat - meat goats, dairy goats, growing goats, mature goats, milking herd, and kids. Knowing the type of food and the required nutritional need of these goats are important especially if you wish to raise and breed goats.
Understanding the digestive system of the goat is important for you to know the type of forage species and feeds that will be most beneficial to your herd or pets.
The goat is one of the animals which are considered ruminants. Ruminants are animals which chew the cud. The cud is the food which enters the first stomach and goes back to the mouth of the animal to be chewed again. Ruminants have stomachs which have four chambers. These types of stomachs are adequately designed to digest foods which are high in fiber such as silage, hay and grass. Thus, most herbivores are actually ruminants.
The four chambers of a goat's stomach are the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. The sizes of these chambers differ and develop as the goat matures.
For newborn kids, the first three chambers are still not useful that kids only survive through milk. As kids grow and mature, the rumen becomes active especially when the goats start eating food with high fiber until the rumen is already larger than the abomasum. The reticulum and the omasum also increase in size through time.
The nutritional requirements of goats vary depending on what stage of development they are in. This section in this chapter will talk about the most basic nutritional requirements of goats that you, as goat keeper must know.
One of the most important requirements is a proper provision of energy which can come from carbohydrates and fats. This is important since energy determines if goats will be productive. If energy is deficient, growth of kids can be retarded, puberty delayed, fertility reduced and milk production will be reduced. The energy requirement can be attained by having adequate intake of feeds and having a high quality diet. Next is protein, proteins are important for a goat since they are responsible for synthetic processes and repair of cells. Phosphorus is a mineral which should also be included in the basic nutritional requirements of goats. This mineral is important for the development of bones and tissues.
Salts or sodium chloride is another important compound which should be provided to the goats. A deficiency in salt intake of goats would reflect lack of appetite and goats consuming debris or soil. Magnesium, potassium and sulfur are required for metabolism of phosphorus and calcium, good muscular tone of goats and as a component for body protein respectively.
Vitamins are another important element that must be supplied to goats to attain their basic nutritional requirement. The most essential vitamins include vitamins A, D, E, K, C and B complex. Vitamin B complex, C and K are usually not included in the feeds of goats since they are already synthesized in the goat's body already sufficient to attain the minimum requirement they need. Vitamin A and D are both important for metabolism while Vitamin E is important for the muscles.
Goat feeding is both an art and a science as it requires both creativity and scientific knowledge to be able to provide your goats of all the basic nutritional requirements that they need. Just the same, goat feeding is both quantitative and qualitative. One should be able to input the right amount of nutrients by knowing the concentration of each nutrient in each feed ingredient. Use of equations, thus a background on mathematics is also required. Goat feeding is qualitative in a sense that goat keepers should not only worry about having the right amount of nutrients for a feed but also put into mind the quality of the feeds to be given to the goats and the way that these feeds will be given to them.
Aside from that, as mentioned earlier, feeding goats require the knowledge about feeds, their digestion and their nutritional requirements which are all part of science. At the same time, you should be able to learn the management of goat feeding well, which is an art. Knowing both of these things is important to successfully raise healthy and productive goats.
Tomorrow, I'll tell you about caring for your goats and general goat health.
Until then, happy goat raising!
~ Valik
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The new book, "A Beginners Guide To Raising Goats" teaches beginning goat farmers absolutely everything they need to know about starting and keeping a successful goat farm while keeping the goats healthy and injury-free.
Find out more about Raising Goats here: http://0355cgv35cxbvmb80wv30grt45.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=LIVESTOCKGOATS
Lesson 5 - Feeding and Nutrition
The type of feeding program and the nutritional needs of goats vary from one type of goat breed to another. There are recommended nutritional guidelines and feeding program for each type of goat - meat goats, dairy goats, growing goats, mature goats, milking herd, and kids. Knowing the type of food and the required nutritional need of these goats are important especially if you wish to raise and breed goats.
The Goat'S Digestive System
Understanding the digestive system of the goat is important for you to know the type of forage species and feeds that will be most beneficial to your herd or pets.
The goat is one of the animals which are considered ruminants. Ruminants are animals which chew the cud. The cud is the food which enters the first stomach and goes back to the mouth of the animal to be chewed again. Ruminants have stomachs which have four chambers. These types of stomachs are adequately designed to digest foods which are high in fiber such as silage, hay and grass. Thus, most herbivores are actually ruminants.
The four chambers of a goat's stomach are the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. The sizes of these chambers differ and develop as the goat matures.
For newborn kids, the first three chambers are still not useful that kids only survive through milk. As kids grow and mature, the rumen becomes active especially when the goats start eating food with high fiber until the rumen is already larger than the abomasum. The reticulum and the omasum also increase in size through time.
Basic Nutritional Requirements
The nutritional requirements of goats vary depending on what stage of development they are in. This section in this chapter will talk about the most basic nutritional requirements of goats that you, as goat keeper must know.
One of the most important requirements is a proper provision of energy which can come from carbohydrates and fats. This is important since energy determines if goats will be productive. If energy is deficient, growth of kids can be retarded, puberty delayed, fertility reduced and milk production will be reduced. The energy requirement can be attained by having adequate intake of feeds and having a high quality diet. Next is protein, proteins are important for a goat since they are responsible for synthetic processes and repair of cells. Phosphorus is a mineral which should also be included in the basic nutritional requirements of goats. This mineral is important for the development of bones and tissues.
Salts or sodium chloride is another important compound which should be provided to the goats. A deficiency in salt intake of goats would reflect lack of appetite and goats consuming debris or soil. Magnesium, potassium and sulfur are required for metabolism of phosphorus and calcium, good muscular tone of goats and as a component for body protein respectively.
Vitamins are another important element that must be supplied to goats to attain their basic nutritional requirement. The most essential vitamins include vitamins A, D, E, K, C and B complex. Vitamin B complex, C and K are usually not included in the feeds of goats since they are already synthesized in the goat's body already sufficient to attain the minimum requirement they need. Vitamin A and D are both important for metabolism while Vitamin E is important for the muscles.
Lastly, water is also of primary importance to goats.
Goat feeding is both an art and a science as it requires both creativity and scientific knowledge to be able to provide your goats of all the basic nutritional requirements that they need. Just the same, goat feeding is both quantitative and qualitative. One should be able to input the right amount of nutrients by knowing the concentration of each nutrient in each feed ingredient. Use of equations, thus a background on mathematics is also required. Goat feeding is qualitative in a sense that goat keepers should not only worry about having the right amount of nutrients for a feed but also put into mind the quality of the feeds to be given to the goats and the way that these feeds will be given to them.
Aside from that, as mentioned earlier, feeding goats require the knowledge about feeds, their digestion and their nutritional requirements which are all part of science. At the same time, you should be able to learn the management of goat feeding well, which is an art. Knowing both of these things is important to successfully raise healthy and productive goats.
Tomorrow, I'll tell you about caring for your goats and general goat health.
Until then, happy goat raising!
~ Valik
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The new book, "A Beginners Guide To Raising Goats" teaches beginning goat farmers absolutely everything they need to know about starting and keeping a successful goat farm while keeping the goats healthy and injury-free.
-- Lesson 3 Getting the Right Goat
-- Lesson 4 Goat Housing and Pasture
-- Lesson 5 Feeding and Nutrition
-- Lesson 6 Goat Care and Health
-- Lesson 7 Getting Ready to Breed
-- Lesson 8 Breedin and Baby Goat Care
-- Lesson 9 Goat Milk Meat and Other Products
-- Lesson 2 Owning a Goat
-- Lesson 10 Economics of Goat Keeping
-- Lesson 4 Goat Housing and Pasture
-- Lesson 5 Feeding and Nutrition
-- Lesson 6 Goat Care and Health
-- Lesson 7 Getting Ready to Breed
-- Lesson 8 Breedin and Baby Goat Care
-- Lesson 9 Goat Milk Meat and Other Products
-- Lesson 2 Owning a Goat
-- Lesson 10 Economics of Goat Keeping
